Trump feuds with New York Times over article on lawyer

President Donald Trump slammed a New York Times article published over the weekend that claimed White House lawyer Don McGahn cooperated extensively with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, implying McGahn had betrayed the president. McGahn gave three interviews and disclosed both “potentially damaging and favorable” information, the Times reported. The article, based on anonymous White House officials and others, said McGahn claimed he never saw Trump do anything beyond his legal authority.

“The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel [sic] Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel [sic], he must be a John Dean type ‘RAT.’ But I allowed him and all others to testify … I have nothing to hide,” Trump tweeted Sunday. Former White House attorney John Dean’s testimony about President Richard Nixon proved crucial to the Watergate investigation. The Times tweeted in response: “The New York Times stands behind the reporting of our Pulitzer-Prize winning reporters.”

White House lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Fox News the Mueller team leaked the story in a ploy to persuade the president to testify. Giuliani said Trump believed allowing Mueller’s team to interview White House officials would quickly bring the investigation to a close, but that approach hasn’t worked.